In The Empty Eden
by Megan Martian
Summary: Not all is right when Roxanne shuts herself off from Megamind; to what depths will he lower himself too, to get her to open up for him? Set Post movie. Inspired by JenL's fanart, "Offering of the Flower". A little angst, romance fluff and relationship humor.


This has been a special project of mine for the past couple of months. So much so that I had to hold off from it to make sure it comes out perfectly...

I was inspired by JenL 's "Offering of the Flower" fanart and I want to thank her for the beautiful and loving picture that is one of my most favorites of all time. Seriously. You should check it out. Thank you Jen, for the fanart and for giving me permission to use the picture as my storycover! I hope you enjoy this story as much as I enjoyed writing it.

art/Offering-of-the-Flower-197435025 (Copy and paste that into google, it should be the very first option)

I want to thank my Beta, Annie (though here, you are not) for helping me read/write/edit this and for **atom_u_b00t** for reading and making suggestions on how this could be better and to you, **dani_kin** for helping in making this perfect! I am very thankful to each and every one of you!

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The ride in the invisible car was a tense one. Drumming his fingers on the steering wheel, Megamind glanced over at his wife, Roxanne. She hadn't said anything since they left the place, only just silently staring off into space outside the passenger window. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat; "Are you mad me?" he mentally kicked himself. _That came out wrong._

"No." was her distracted response. "Not mad."

But he wasn't buying it, "Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Frowning and growing more anxious by the second he reached over and took her hand, bringing it to rest between them so he could still drive safely. She flashed him a brief smile at the gesture and responded to his light squeeze with a weak one of her own, but it was only for a moment as her gaze drifted back out through the window.

He sighed, hating this silence more and more. It wasn't the comfortable kind where neither needed to say anything to get their point across. This one was oppressive; feeling more like a heavy cloud had descended upon the two. Or a brick wall had risen between them.

He would have to resort to drastic measures.

"So, Minion and I are reconsidering going back to a life of evil and mayhem." Megamind said with a shrug, "My first act as the unretired villain—" he stated with a dramatic stabbed finger in the air followed by the practiced narrowing of the eyes, "leak information on the most popular book series!" He cackled wickedly, "Then no one will be satisfied! When I'm done with that, I'll tell all the fans of Twin Peaks how it really ends! I will call it," he paused once again for dramatic effect, "'Operation: Spoolier Alert!' Muah haha!"

"And I have my own plans for you, my dear Roxanne…" He gave her a sly grin, "You shall be my own personal sex slave… yes… I shall ravage your body every night!" The blue alien bucked his hips with time of his diabolical intent, "_Us! Doing! It! All! The! Time!_ On the all major holidays and twice on Krismoose!"

"Basically, what we do now, but times six," he added as an afterthought.

Then returning to the drama, he raised his voice, "And there's no one around to stop me!" and with that he threw his head back and laughed his former maniacal laugh.

There was a silence before he was given a halfhearted, "Yeah, sure. Alright. Let me know how that turns out."

He deflated, chewing on his lip in dejection. _That should've worked!_ "You're just going through the motions aren't you? You and you're autopilot- I swear I'll find that button one day…" he grumbled. "You remember how to do this right? I'm supposed to come up with an evil scheme and you're supposed to tell me how stupid it is and why it would '_never_ work in a _million_ years' and how I'm _'so predictable'_..."

More silence, until she seemed to snap back to reality, "Huh? What?"

_Fudge crackers! _Not the response he was looking for.

Finally he sighed when the light turned green and he sped off, "Talk to me, Roxanne. Banter with me or something."

"There's nothing to talk about." she pulled her hand free and folded her arms.

"_Clearly_ there is. Come on, please talk to me." He glanced from her and back to the road. "I hate it when we don't at least bicker."

"I know."

"Then why the silence?"

"Megamind, I just want to be left alone right now."

He set his face straight, "No, not until we talk."

"Look, just leave me alone!" she finally snapped, making him jump. "I'm fine, ok? Everything is fine- it's just stupid." she began to drum her fingers on her arm. "I don't even know why I'm so worked up over nothing…" she muttered, "…wasn't like I was hoping or anything..."

"Ok." He raised his eyebrows in understanding, "So the news clearly bothered you. Let's talk about it."

"Nope."

_Hmm…_ He frowned. _She's in her "I'm powering down" mode. How can I get her talking?_

He searched his brilliant mind, trying to come up with any possible ideas and their outcomes. _C'mon! Think, think, think! _And then, from a memory from what seemed like years before, a sudden idea sprung to life and instead of making the left towards Evil Lair, he made a right, going the opposite way, all with a pleasant smile on his sharp blue face.

"Where are we going?" she asked, looking around, "This isn't the way home."

He kept quiet. It was his turn now to use the torturous silent treatment. "I'm sorry. I thought you didn't want to talk. I thought there was nothing to talk about, _remember_?"

"Megamind, I'm not in the mood for games." she rubbed her temples and looked at him.

He stayed silent and she sighed, "I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"It's ok."

Roxanne gave him a sidelong stare, "Do you forgive me?"

"Maybe."

She continued to watch him. "Are you mad at me?"

"No. Not mad."

She frowned, "Megs, this isn't funny."

"It's not?"

"Stop it!"

"Stop what?"

He could tell she was starting to get angry, _so close_. But he had to be careful, lest she explode before reaching their destination. He could now see it in the distance; he sped up to search for a parking space.

"Urgh! Honestly, Megamind, sometimes…" she glared at him, "you act like such a _child!_" then she stiffened and went silent again, refolding her arms and picked up where she left off in glaring out the window. But noticing where they now were, she straightened in her seat, looked at him questionably but refused to ask him why they were _here_ of all places. "I want to go home."

"We will when we're done." He said simply while parking the invisible car on a grassy knoll, ten feet from an actual free parking spot. But who cares, the car's invisible! He unbuckled his seatbelt, got out, walked around to her side and opened the door. "Come on, let's walk."

She shook her head frantically, "No! Can we please just go home? I just want to take a bath- I got a report I need to write- some calls to make for work…"

She trailed off before adding in a desperate whisper, "Please take me home, Megamind. _Please_?"

But with a knowing look, he just squatted down next to her, balancing on the balls on his feet,

"Roxanne—you're just going to bottle this up until you eventually ker-schplode."

She shook her head frantically, "No I won't!"

He gave her a look.

Folding her arms stubbornly, "I never do that."

Raising an expressive black eyebrow.

The star reporter finally relented somewhat and blurted out, "Ok—that one time- but I was on my period and had a really really bad day!" and then continued through gritted teeth, "And you just _had_ to blow up my dishwasher-!"

He blinked.

"Ok! Fine!" she snapped for the second time, "So I bottle things up, big deal! That's how I deal with things now!"

The alien only frowned thoughtfully before resting his chin on his upturned hand, "I liked you better when you just get angry and throw stuff. Whatever happened to _that_ Roxanne? You know, the really tough chick with the sharp tongue who never screamed when I had her tied to a chair or pointed destructive weapons in her face."

The Roxanne sitting in the car took a moment to breathe before gazing down at him shyly, "I guess she got married and softened up a bit. C'mon…" smiling, she reached out, and brushed the back of her fingers along his cheek, "Let's go home…" and then she licked her lower lip, making it shine in the light of the midday sun, "I'll show you that my tongue is still sharp…"

He smiled, and kissed the palm of her hand, "Nice try Earth woman, but you cannot tempt me with your feminine wiles. This Space man came here on a mission of the upmost importance."

Instantly dropping her act, his heart broke as he watched her grow more upset with every passing second; but he wasn't going to take her back home, to the lair, where she could hide and let this fester in the dark.

"I just don't want to be _here_ of all places! _Why_ did you bring me here?" Roxanne continued in a frustrated whine.

In response, he only leaned in -never letting go of her hand- unbuckled her seatbelt and gently pulled her out, "Because this used to be one of your favorite things to do as a kid."

After considering for a moment, she let out a defeated sigh, "Alright, fine… but just for a few minutes." With a smile, he offered her an arm to which she clung to a little more desperately than she probably meant too. "This has to be considered cruel and unusual punishment… I swear, this is just plain downright dirty and you know it."

"I'm afraid your level of comfort is of no concern to me, Miss Ritchi." He replied cheerily as he led her through the entrance, "I will have my way."

She frowned at him as they entered Metro City Park; the one where she used to frequent with her mother when she was a child.

It was sunny on this summer day as the odd couple made their way past the busier parts of the park with its playgrounds, picnic shelters and fountains. People on bikes, or roller skates, even those who brought their dogs or kids watched at them curiously as they passed by. Roxanne couldn't help but watch the children that ran around them, chuckling when they stopped to stare awe-struck at her husband (or in some cases ask for his autograph), the former villain turned hero.

He watched her out of the corner of his eye to see her give a crooked smile when he high fived a small boy who was brave enough to approach.

One would think they would be frightened of the fact that he was a bald alien with an enormous head and the complexion of a popular primary color, yet they seemed to be more concerned with the fact that instead of his normal tight spandex and leather costume with the high collar, spikes and cape, he was wearing a simple black elbow length shirt with a blue lightning bolt striking up the center and an equally simple pair of skinny blue jeans, a rare sight indeed.

The woman was surprised herself when he came out for breakfast wearing the casual ensemble, but as he had explained,

"Today is more important, and crime-wise, it's pretty quiet. So it's my day off."

She also had this particular day planned off from work and wore a simple cream tank top and jeans.

Together they walked in silence; admiring the scenery of the green grass and the pink wild flowers that grew everywhere and the occasional yellow dandelion. They continued walking on the sidewalk and as they trekked, it began to incline upwards since years ago the park was created on a very small mountain.

Inside, it was a safe haven, the growth of the trees and the wild honeysuckle, provided a natural sound barrier which made the place a quiet retreat from the hustle and bustle of the city outside. The only sound that could be heard now were the singing birds, and the humming of the bees as the distant calls and soft music of the other park goers and picnickers receded behind and below them.

Roxanne sighed, as she felt the tension ease off her in small increments; it sometimes scared her how much Megamind really understood her. How she would often come here and lay in the grass when things would get too stressful.

Sometimes he would surprise her by bringing lunch while he patrolled the city and they would enjoy a small picnic together.

Leaning her head against his bony shoulder, she silently laced their fingers as they continued their journey, their steps in sync with one another's.

Eventually, Megamind stopped and silently jerked his large blue head towards a lonely tree that provided enough shade from the sun, privacy and a view of the park below. He led her towards it and sat down, pulling her down to sit between his legs and leaning her back against his chest.

"Talk to me Roxanne." He spoke softly in her ear. "Come back to me."

She was quiet for a long time, her blue eyes scanning the fields below them. But Megamind would wait forever if he had to.

Then, after a deep breath that shuddered slightly, she looked down at her fidgeting fingers, "I guess, deep down, I always knew it wouldn't work out."

He kissed behind her ear. "Not in the traditional sense anyway."

"So I don't know why I still feel like this." Her expression pained, "I've never been in a hurry to have kids or anything. I guess… I'm just more in love with the belief that _one day_ I _could_ have some," she looked to the side to see him watching her flat stomach, listening, his expression unreadable, "that eventually, when we're ready, _we_could have some. Y'know?"

"I know." He responded quietly, snuggling his face into her exposed neck, "We're compatible in every other possible way."

She laid her head back against his shoulder and sniffed; he used the hand that wasn't supporting them to brush away her short brown hair and kissed her temple.

"I don't regret being with you." She gave him a demure look through her lashes, "You know how I feel about you…"

He just smiled, "How we feel about each other." and ghosted his lips on her forehead, "Yes. Yes, I do."

"I wanted to be with you no matter what. Even at the cost of-" she swallowed and wiped an eye.

He rubbed her arm, "We both knew what we were getting into. What we may or may not have to give up."

She let out a breath, taking comfort in his ministrations, how he loved touching her and how she loved being touched by _him_. "When I was younger I always imagined being married to my soul mate and maybe a few years later, have a baby or two along the way. I mean, when we were, you know, ready." she sighed and shut her eyes, "It's not fair."

"Well, look at it this way," he offered, "at least the other kids won't feel as pressured by being compared with ours." He waved his free hand, "Can you imagine poor Johnny or Soo-say—"

"'Susie'."

"That's what I said, anyway—can you imagine what their parents would be like?" his voice grew shrill, "_'Six A's and a B? Did you even study? Look at Megamind and Roxanne's child—they're already teaching astro physics and they're only nine!'_ I'd like to think we're doing all those under developed children a favor really."

She laughed despite the emptiness she felt on the inside. After a pause, she looked up through the tree's branches, toward the sky. A light summer breeze swept by, lifting her hair with it.

"Well," Megamind began thoughtfully, "the doctor did say there were other options."

"Oh no," She closed her eyes again and smiled at what she knew was coming, "Megs…"

He ticked them off his fingers, "There's genetic engineering—"

"Megamind."

"Genetic splicing-"

"Stop that train of thought…"

"… Cloning's always fun…"

"_Megamind!_"

"Ok, ok, ok… So you _won't_ wake up pregnant… or with an extra arm growing out of your head… but you _may_ find yourself with an extra head."

This earned him an elbow to the gut and he laughed as he wrapped his free arm around her middle, "Come on! Just imagine- us, you, me, creating a life in a petri dish! What _fun_! All we'll need is a turkey baser, a funnel, and one of those spring loaded salad dryer thingies."

She let out a laugh and rubbed her eyes, "Why on earth would you need one of those?"

"I was going to make you a nice apple cranberry salad, the one with the candied pecans that you like. Scienceing can make you hungry!"

She looked at him with amusement, "Oh _really_?"

"_Yes_, really." and then he smirked, bringing her hand to his lips, "And you, my _little test subject_, will be _ravenous_when our little science experiment takes off!" With a suggestive purr, he peppered her entire hand with kisses all the while wiggling his eyebrows.

Roxanne covered her eyes with her free hand and snorted, "Oh god, kids _aren't_ science experiments!"

"Oh… They're not?" he tapped his chin thoughtfully. "But I thought…? Oh, never mind."

She chuckled at this for a moment before growing silent again, watching the sky. "What do you want to do Megamind?"

He followed her gaze, "Why are you asking me?"

"Because you're my husband."

"And that's stopped you before, because…?"

She frowned and gave him a look, "Because if we have a baby, I want you to be involved one hundred percent."

He dropped his emerald gaze to meet hers, "And I will be, by a hundred times six. What, you don't think I will?"

She broke her gaze, examining her feet, "Well, you're busy protecting the city and…" she rubbed her arms as an old wound throbbed, "And you know about my father."

Instantly both of his arms tightened around her in a fierce embrace, "I'm _not_ him!" he growled into her ear, "I will_never_ be him!"

"I know, I know, I'm sorry." She patted his hands reassuringly, "I just… I don't... I'm sorry. I know you're not him."

"You know I'll be there Roxanne. Always and forever. There is no question about that." He nuzzled her again kissing her neck. "I may be out of sorts without Minion, but I'm _hopeless_ without you."

"I know." She whispered with a smile. "Well, tell me what you want."

"I want a family, whether it's you, me, Minion and the row-bots or all of us with kids. As long as I'm with you, I'm happy either way." She watched him as his face became illuminated by the sunlight, making it appear a bright blue.

Affectionately, she reached up and stroked the sharp angular jaw line and his soft little black goatee that she adored.

"I didn't grow up with a family." he carried on, "Not that I blame them, but I wasn't able to have a mother or father." He smiled lightly, "I always wondered what it would be like to have kids, if I'd make a good dad. But, I was always thought I was destined to be alone forever."

His face broke into a grin, "So when you _finally_ convinced me to mah-wie you—"

She scoffed with a roll of her eyes, "_Excuse_ me? _Me_, convince _you_? As I recall, I had to beat you away with the Forget-Me-Stick."

"Yeah I still don't recall much of '12- But _as I was saying_—" he continued as if he was never interrupted, "-when _we_finally decided to, tie the knot, so to speak, that's when I started thinking seriously about being a dad."

"Heh," She smiled slightly. "yeah, me too."

He looked at her with that mischievous little grin of his, "You wanted to be a dad?"

She made a face, "Mmm!" making him laugh heartily.

"I want whatever you want, Roxanne. Whether you want kids or not, you're stuck with me." She chuckled and stroked his cheek again; drawing little patterns underneath his jaw, trickling down his neck and back towards his ear.

Megamind sighed happily before continuing, "You know I was an orphan once… we could always adopt." He shrugged, "I mean, if it's really impossible to conceive… We can always give that a try."

"That is an idea..." and then the earth woman sniffed again and looked pleadingly up to her blue alien husband, "But I want _blue_ babies!"

He smiled and nuzzled his face with her wet one, "We could always paint them... stick them in some dye, y'know?"

She laughed, "They aren't Easter eggs either!"

He wiggled his eyebrows, "Oh, well what if we draw on them with markers? Are you opposed to sharpies?"

She elbowed him again and he grunted before a chuckle, "Ow. I may be a glutton for your brand of punishment, but_cheeses_..."

"That's what you get for making me laugh when I'm trying so hard to be sad."

"That doesn't mean you can just attack me, woman!" he teased, "I'm calling the cops; see if you like prison, lady."

"Oh, very well." A sly look, a small chuckle and a quick peck underneath his chin, "Feel better?"

"I'm not sure, kiss me again or else I'll sue your bodacious butt."

She giggled and complied, then settled back with a sigh. "Do you think I'm being petty? I shouldn't be feeling this way, should I?"

"I think your reacting appropriately, given the circumstances."

"But _why_?" finally, her voice broke and she sucked in a breath. Shifting, she turned to bury her face in his thin chest,

"I see women get pregnant on accident _all the time_! They just sleep with someone _once_ and _they_ get to have a baby… and as much as we _try_, we can't! It's_ not_ fair!" her fingers tightened in the folds of his shirt. "_Why_ do they get to have a baby and we _can't_?"

Megamind watched her helplessly before swallowing and licking his lips nervously. This wasn't natural. Roxanne Ritchi- his wife, partner, lover, his only other best friend with the will of iron- did not break down like this. He closed his eyes and cleared his throat.

After a long moment of listening to her cry, he started, very delicately, "Roxanne… there is another option…"

She looked up sniffing and wiped her face with the heel of her palm, "What's that?"

"Well..." he shifted a little in discomfort, "It's mostly because of what I am," somberly, he splayed a hand over his heart, "that we cannot conceive naturally... but, we are on a planet filled with males of your kind so, uh, I won't stop you if you'd want to look for…" his eyes flicked around and he licked his lips again, "A sperm donor—"

She sucked in a breath when she realized what he was suggesting, "No!"

"Rox—" he cupped her face. Yes, he wasn't particularly fond of the idea- but if she wanted to be a mother, then come biting brain bots or high voltage he will be the best father_ any_ child can ask for… "I don't want you to regret not having children on account of_ my_ feelings if you _did_ want to consider that." He continued as reassuringly as he could, "It doesn't mean that we would love each other—or the baby- any less—"

"_No!_ No, Megamind, no!" she sobbed, her shoulders shaking, "It's _your _babies I want! The ones with the green eyes and the big heads and-and impish smiles!"

He hugged her to him and rocked her soothingly, "It was just an idea, Roxanne, just an idea. We don't have to if you don't want to."

"I know, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to overreact..." she took several deep breaths, "you're right, that's an option too, but I don't want to do that. I know it works for some people but I just want yours and... and..." she placed on a smile, "And I'm being silly aren't I? I 'ker-schploded' didn't I?"

Her blue skinned, enormous headed, electric green eyed husband chuckled warmly, "A tad. But I am honored, heh."

She covered her face in frustration, "I mean, will we even _want_ kids in the future?" she ran a hand through her hair, "I'm so _confused_. Why am I even _acting_ like this? What's wrong with me?"

"Roxanne, it seems to me you're just going around in circles." He cocked his head, "You say you want a baby and then turn down all of our options. But darling," he rubbed his cheek against hers and with the slightest tremble in his voice, "we just _can't_ have them naturally. I'm so sorry. We have to face the facts and look at other alternatives."

She gripped her hair, "Urgh! It's just not fair!"

With great gentleness, Megamind took her hand in his and kissed her wedding ring; "Life often isn't. I did land in a prison after all. But sometimes things just have a way of evening out."

A heavy silence descended on the lovers. Roxanne curled against him and closed her eyes as he stared out into the city outside their safe haven. As always, he wasn't paying attention to any particular detail; just weighing out the possibilities, resources, biological formulas and the potential of creating a possible human-alien hybrid... maybe even more than one?

His lips moved wordlessly as he narrowed his eyes in concentration, calculating the percentage of success rates and the 'what ifs', 'ands' and 'buts' that came along with such thoughts.

Sure. There was a possibility of failure. But there was a possibility for success as well.

Satisfied with his analysis he pulled back and smiled down at his wife. "Look at me, Roxanne."

She did, and he wasn't surprised to see that her normally deep blue eyes were now a grey; red rimmed and glistening with unshed tears.

He thumbed away the fresh tears, "You remember when I saved you from Tighten? When he recorded you on top of the old Metro Tower?"

Frowning in confusion, Roxanne sniffed, "You're bringing up _Hal_ at a time like this? Really?"

He rolled his green eyes, "Do you remember what you said to me?"

"I was kinda scared about _dying_ at the time. So, no. What did I say?"

Settling her back into place, he wrapped his arms around her tightly, leaning his cheek against hers, "You said to never give up. That I never back down from a fight even if I had no chance of winning. Well, maybe you need to take your own advice." _For once._ he added silently with a smirk.

"What do you mean?" she wiped her face.

Giving her a sidelong smile, "What I mean is, it may take a while but I will try figure out a way to help make us a child. If that is what you want."

Blinking, "And what does that entail? I thought we agreed to no experimentation."

_Ahem, you did._ "My sweet, sometimes the greatest marvels come out of experimenting." and with that, Megamind slipped a blue hand between her jean-covered thighs and playfully pawed the covered nexus there, chuckling darkly, "We found that out the fun way, didn't we?"

Giving a small squeal, Roxanne pushed his hand away, "_Stooooop!_ We're in public!"

"So? There are bushes not twenty feet away." He grinned wickedly. "Come on. Let's go."

"But there are kids around!" she protested with a giggle.

He continued to grin with nefarious intent. She knew his mind was assailed with dirty filthiness that she started. "Ohhhh, aren't we shy all of a sudden?"

Feigning disgust, she crossed her legs and folded her arms, looking away, "I regret ever having sex with you. It's turned you into a pig."

"Oink. But seriously, we don't know if the science is impossible. With a little time and some resources, we _could_make this work." his gaze once again wandered throughout the park, "When I'm not out fighting crime, I can devote my free time to cracking our DNA. I can work with genetic engineers as well so you won't end up with an extra arm or turned into a cockroach or something..."

Roxanne snorted "Did I ever tell you how much I love it when you take such precautions? No really, thank you_Hero_!"

Smiling, he took her chin in his fingers and made her look at him, "It's worth a try, Roxanne."

"I don't know… How is this suppose to work?"

Megamind's smile widened, "Does it matter how it works if that is what you want to do? Say the word and we'll cross that bridge together when we come to it."

And yet, she barked out a laugh, "I can't really see you working with other scientists."

He shrugged with nonchalance, "Somebody has to correct their mistakes." An arrogant smirk blossomed on his smug blue face, "And our kids are _going_ to be perfect..."

"Mmm… But what if it doesn't work Megs? You heard that doctor-" She faced him. "He said it may be impossible. That we're just too different."

"Then if that's the case," tenderly he cupped her face, "Then we'll adopt if that is what you want to do- whether we have kids or not, I'll be there. What _qualifies_ as family is different for everyone."

The blue defender looked out towards the park, "It's a collection of people who make a family, whether it's two dads', two moms', a mom and-or a dad, biologicals and non-biologicals, aliens and row-bots, humans and aliens, row-bots and talking alien fish- there are so many options!"

Green eyes met steadily growing blues, "But all that doesn't matter, Roxanne, because, to me, my family is you. If you want to make it bigger, then great!" he beamed and gently pulled her face closer, "But if we can't, or we decide that we're _happy as we are_, then life is still great because I have you in it."

She smiled at this and they touched foreheads, gazing into each other's eyes for what felt like eternity. In their little bubble, the world could end around them, and neither would know nor care.

But doubt still loomed in her heart and eventually she closed her eyes, releasing two tears pent up down her cheeks, "But he said-!"

He feigned an offended expression, "Do my ears deceive me? Has my most cherished one lost faith in my abilities? You do realize that I am the Great Megamind, right? You know, incredibly handsome super genius? I'm almost positive you didn't mah-wie me_ just_ for my body. And did you even look at his wall? He only had three Phds! I have many, many Phds at home, you've seen them."

She watched him in confusion, "'Phds'?"

"You know…" the hero gestured with his hands, "When the _p_ and the _h_ make a _ffff_ sound with the _d_? Phd."

"You mean… Ph.D?"

"Yes, a phd." A firm nod in satisfaction.

"And you want to experiment on me. Yeah. Not happening. Cra-azy." She laughed despite herself, "And where did you even get those? I never see you read."

He poked her nose, "And that's why they offer online college courses for juvenile delinquents."

"Did you even _pay_ for college tuition?"

"That's for me to know and for you to find out, my nosy little reporter." he said with a very mysterious gleam in his eye, "But anyway, _why_are you even listening to that small brained buffoon when my brain is significantly larger?"

Her alien smirked, "Did you know that all throughout my life all I ever heard was 'No' and all I ever responded with was, 'Why not?' and look where it got me." He squeezed her again, "Validation from an entire city and the girl of my dreams, and _look_ at how happy I am." putting on a bland expression, "I am simply overjoyed."

With a cry she shoved him backwards and he landed on the grass, "_Oof! Owie!_" he laughed, shielding himself from her assault.

"Time out!" she was on top of him now, wrestling and giggling as she poked him in all of his sensitive areas, "Gah! Uncle! I surrender!"

Roxanne returned to her spot between his legs and folded her arms again in a feigned pout, "Serves you right for being so god damn cute."

Sensing that his wife was nearly free from her self-imprisonment, he laughed and sat back up to where he was originally and looked thoughtful for a long moment, "So, when do you want to do this?"

"Not quite yet. In a few years, maybe? You?" she asked devotedly meeting his eyes.

He smiled and lightly preened her soft hair with his long thin fingers, "Ready when you are. Say the word and I'll be ready to impregnate you with my mutated alien seed."

"_Eeewwwww!_" She couldn't help but laugh again, "You're going to make this as _unromantic_ as possible aren't you?"

"You love it when I talk like this."

"Oh my god…" she covered her face, "Yes, I do." His contagious optimism had a way breaking through her depression, like a ray of sunlight through the darkest storm clouds. She was already starting to feel better!

Relaxing, she settled back into leaning against him, "Well…If you think it's worthwhile..." She looked out towards the park with newfound purpose. "If there's hope."

Megamind reach over and plucked a nearby flower, a pink one with eight petals and a green stem.

"Roxanne, if there's love," he offered it to her, and she smiled a very genuine smile, "There will always be hope."


End file.
